Critical Return System: I Am Pampering Beautiful Maidens

Assimilating these memories, Li An was stunned.

"My eyes mutated?"

This was new, yet it strengthened a fresh idea in his mind.

Opening the remaining seven gates, using unique nourishing substances to gain abilities.

"This is entirely possible because, to open a gate, you must destroy the main component."

He formulated this theory after losing his eyes, at which moment he felt the barrier detach.

This gave him the basic idea of his theory: to obtain something new, one must let go of the old.

And the new, using the energy from the nourishing effect, would undergo transmutation.

"This is dangerous! But what great power! Haven't I always grown through danger?"

Li An was more determined than ever. In this short period, he had grown significantly.

Getting up from the black mat and standing, he felt quite dizzy.

His vision zoomed in like a magnifying glass, then zoomed out, becoming extremely blurry.

"This is hard to control!"

Li An placed his hands over his eyes, trying to adjust. On the first attempt, he failed. Instinctively, he closed them and tried again, but still, he couldn't manage.

With each failure, his head spun more and more.

Feeling extremely dizzy, with the entire environment shifting around him, he lay down on the mat, remaining completely still, waiting to recover.

Some time later, after regaining his composure, he tried again but failed.

Two hours later...

He finally managed to control his vision slightly, setting it just below normal human sight.

If he consulted an ophthalmologist, they would recommend five-degree glasses.

"It's enough to use this vision for now. Any stronger, and I'll go crazy again..."

Li An muttered. Then, walking normally, he approached the mirror, overwhelmed with curiosity to see his current eyes.

When he saw himself, he was captivated by those beautiful light blue pupils, the color of the ocean. It was as if the sea had transformed into his eyes.

Another interesting thing was that his scars had been repaired.

In the glass before him, the reflection showed a young man as beautiful as a work of art.

Words from Li An, who couldn't stop admiring himself.

"I'm so handsome now!"

He, who had always considered himself average, couldn't help but feel a bit foolish upon seeing his current appearance.

"I need to break through today; otherwise, I'll attract too much unnecessary attention. If I break through, I'll have an excuse to justify my transformation."

Li An wasn't worried. Generally, when someone breaks through as a martial artist, their body undergoes transformations. Some grow their hair, others change eye color, some increase in height—among many other changes.

This happens due to transformation.

Cultivating Vitality and opening a gate share the same goal: breaking human limits.

Vitality, also called life energy or life force, is the essence of everything in the world. All beings possess this energy, from plants to living creatures.

Humans cultivate this energy through breathing techniques and begin to modify their essence, transforming themselves.

According to some legends, those who reach the peak can cultivate star energy and travel through the starry sky.

But that is merely a legend. In the current era, no one has ever achieved such a feat.

...

Sitting cross-legged on the mat again, Li An began searching his mind for the breathing method, wanting to study it using his innate ability from the Human Clan.

Natural Breathing...

Be one with nature and cultivate like a plant...

This was the basic breathing technique the academy provided for Class F.

"Before, if I read this phrase, I would be confused, but now I understand a point."

Li An murmured and began using his imagination while his eyes worked to comprehend.

First, he imagined himself as a plant, born directly in a desert.

There, he died under the scorching heat.

This experience gave him his first understanding of nature.

Then, he was reborn in a forest, surrounded by abundant water, but met his end when devoured by a herbivorous animal.

His understanding of nature deepened even more.

But he didn't stop there.

In his third rebirth, he was in water, like a coral—alive and radiant. However, instinctively, he succumbed to the accumulated pollution in the river.

In his fourth rebirth, he emerged high in the mountains but couldn't avoid his demise: a natural phenomenon—a devastating lightning strike—destroyed him.

In his fifth rebirth, he was planted by a beautiful little girl from a seed. In this life, he did not die immediately. He watched time pass.

The child grew up, became a teenager, then an adult, and finally, an elderly woman. Eventually, she died.

The tree saw it all. It lived in solitude. But it was not entirely lost, as the girl's grandchildren visited it.

However, even that came to an end. Future generations forgot about it, and thus, it died of old age, completely alone.

These lives as a plant gave Li An an unimaginable level of understanding.

"Life is fleeting, and there are many possibilities. A plant is like us, humans: we have different beginnings and follow paths that will never be the same as those of others."

"But amid all this, few reach the end without feeling sadness at seeing a relative die, without suffering some misfortune themselves, or without missing out on life's opportunities. This creates much regret… Or we become greedy, and greed blinds us, preventing us from thinking. We end up harming ourselves and the people around us without realizing it."

"Yes! This is the nature of life."

Li An understood life in a way he didn't want to, but he couldn't deny his thoughts.

However, not everything was bad.

"Like the tree and the little girl... As long as we are alive, we must cherish each moment together and create memories that will last until the end of our lives."

"This is true nature."

When he reached this point, he felt close to fully understanding the method.

"Be one with nature? What does that mean? Just accepting this cycle?"

Li An shook his head at that thought.

"The goal of cultivation is to go against what was set for us from birth. We change little by little."

"My goal is to become strong. I want to live a life without limitations, where nothing can stop me—neither natural phenomena, nor old age, nothing!"

"I live relying only on myself."

At that moment, Li An felt his understanding was complete.

He realized he didn't need to become nature but rather understand himself. To know his true nature. To be as natural as possible with himself.

"This is Natural Breathing."